Internet-based customer referral system

ABSTRACT

An Internet-based customer referral system enables individuals and other business entities (“associates”) to market products sold on a merchant web site in return for commissions. Following registration, the associate sets up a web site (or other information dissemination system) to distribute hypertextual catalog documents that include marketing information (product reviews, recommendations, etc.) about selected products of the merchant. In association with each such product, the catalog document includes a hypertextual “referral link” that allows a user/customer to access the merchant web site and purchase the product. When a customer selects a referral link, the customer&#39;s computer transmits unique IDs of the selected product and of the associate to the merchant&#39;s site, allowing the merchant to identify the product and the referring associate. If the customer subsequently purchases a product from the merchant&#39;s site, a commission is automatically credited to an account of the referring associate.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/366,931, filed Aug. 4, 1999, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 08/883,770, filed Jun. 27, 1997 (now U.S. Pat. No.6,029,141). The disclosures of the aforesaid applications are herebyincorporated by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to electronic commerce. Specifically, thisinvention relates to information processing methods for marketing andselling goods via the Internet or other interactive network.

APPENDICES

Included as Appendices A and B are documents that illustrate a preferredembodiment of the invention. These materials form part of the disclosureof the specification.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the increasing popularity of the Internet and the World Wide Web,it has become common for merchants to set up Web sites for marketing andselling goods. One example of such a Web site is the online bookstoresite of AMAZON.COM, the assignee of the present invention. Via thissite, consumers can access and place orders from an online book catalogthat includes millions of titles.

One problem commonly encountered by online merchants is an inability toeffectively market goods via their Web sites. Because the customercannot physically inspect the products via the Web site, and typicallycannot talk to a salesperson, it is desirable that the site provideaccess to product reviews, product ratings, and other information thatcan be relied on by the customer to make an informed decision. In manycases, however, the merchant lacks the resources needed to generate orotherwise obtain such information, especially if the merchant sells alarge and diverse selection of goods. For example, it would not bepractical for AMAZON.COM to prepare reviews of all, or even asignificant portion of, the millions of titles available on theAMAZON.COM site.

Another problem commonly faced by online merchants is an inability toefficiently attract potential consumers to their Web sites. One way ofattracting consumers has been to market the site through television,newspaper and Internet advertisements. However, advertising a site usingconventional methods can be expensive, and can consume significant humanresources. In addition, it is often difficult or impossible to evaluatethe effectiveness of a given advertisement.

The present invention addresses these and other problems.

SUMMARY

The present invention provides a software system and method for enablingan Internet sales entity, referred to herein as the “merchant,” toefficiently market and sell goods in cooperation with Web sites or othernetwork sites of respective business partners, referred to herein as“associates.” The system and method are implemented in part by softwarethat runs on the merchant's Web site. Through this site, an entity canenroll (via an automated registration process) as an associate, and canthen disseminate catalogs (Web documents, PUSH documents, e-mailnewsletters, etc.) that include the associate's reviews and/orrecommendations on specific products sold by the merchant.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the associate catalogdocuments include product-specific hyperlinks, referred to herein as“referral links,” that allow potential customers to link to themerchant's Web site to initiate purchases of such products from themerchant. Each referral link is provided within the catalog document inassociation with referral information that is transmitted to themerchant's site when a user (customer) clicks on the referral link. Thisreferral information preferably includes the unique ID of the associate(assigned upon enrollment) and the unique ID of the selected product.Referral processing software running on the merchant site uses thisinformation to identify the associate that referred the customer to themerchant site, and to identify the product selected from the associate'scatalog. If the customer subsequently purchases the selected productfrom the merchant site (e.g., by filling out an order form page andsubmitting the order), the referral processing software automaticallycredits the referring associate for the referral by, for example,applying a commission to an account of the associate. In oneimplementation, the referral commission is automatically generated basedon a fixed percentage of the merchant's selling price, and is paid tothe associate electronically on a periodic basis (such as every calendarquarter).

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the merchant siteimplements an automated associate enrollment process for allowingindividuals and business entities to register as associates. Theenrollment process is implemented in part by Web pages that aretransmitted to the computer of the associate applicant, and byenrollment software that runs on the merchant site. During theenrollment process, the applicant is presented with an online businessagreement (in the form of a Web page) that sets forth the terms andconditions of doing business with the merchant. In addition, theapplicant is presented with an online form that requests variousinformation, such as the name, payment address and e-mail address of theapplicant and a description of the proposed associate Web site. In oneimplementation, the enrollment software includes text scanning code thatautomatically scans the completed form for pre-specified words andphrases (vulgarities, etc.) that may give rise to a rejection of theapplication, and flags the application for further (human) review whensuch a word or phrase is found.

As part of the online registration, the application is processed (eitherautomatically or by a staff member of the merchant), and the enrollmentsoftware generates and assigns a unique associate ID to the applicant,and stores this ID (together with other associate information) in anassociate database of the merchant site. In addition, the enrollmentsoftware generates and sends an e-mail message to the associate withinstructions for placing referral links within catalog documents.

In a preferred embodiment, the merchant site includes code thatmaintains a unified shopping cart data structure (“shopping cart”) foreach ongoing customer shopping session. For each ongoing shoppingsession, the shopping cart maintains a record of at least: (i) theproducts that are currently selected by the customer for prospectivepurchase, and (ii) the referral source (if any) of each such product. Inone implementation, each shopping cart persists on the merchant site foran extended period of time (such as one week) following the most recentaccess by the customer, thereby allowing the customer to conductextended shopping sessions. To purchase the products represented withinthe shopping cart, the customer proceeds to a “check out” area of themerchant site and submits an order. Software running on the merchantsite then uses the information collected within the shopping cart toidentify, and appropriately credit the account of, each associate thatprovided a corresponding referral.

An important benefit of the shopping cart feature is that it allows thecustomer to select products from multiple different sites, and thenperform a single check-out to purchase all of the selected products.Another benefit is that it provides an efficient mechanism for creditingthe accounts of the associates at the time of purchase. Although the useof a shopping cart provides certain advantages, the referral trackingand crediting features of the invention can be implemented without theuse of a shopping cart.

In one implementation, the various components are provided on the Website of AMAZON.COM as part of the AMAZON.COM Associates Program. Throughthis program, an individual or business entity can register as anAMAZON.COM associate, and can then set up a Web site to marketcustomized subsets of the books (typically in a particular area ofexpertise) available from the AMAZON.COM site. For example, a computercompany can set up a site (or add an area to an existing site) torecommend and sell selected books on computer programming languages, anda Cajun chef can set up a site to recommend and sell selected books onNew Orleans style cooking. The associate is in turn paid a commission orother consideration based on the referrals that result in actualpurchases. Because AMAZON.COM handles the various tasks associated withprocessing orders from customers (including shipping, collections, andcustomer service), the associate need only be concerned with theadministration of the associate Web site.

An important benefit of the invention is that it allows the task ofmarketing the merchant's products to be efficiently distributed amongentities that have established reputations and exposure within theirrespective fields. Another benefit is that it provides an efficientmechanism for exposing the merchant's Web site to the public, byencouraging others (associates) to set up outgoing links to themerchant's site.

Because the associate enrollment and referral tracking/credit functionsare automated in whole or in part, these benefits can be realized withminimal supervision by the merchant. In addition, because thecompensation provided to the associates is performance-based (e.g.,based on the number of referrals that result in actual sales), themerchant need not be concerned with the existence of large numbers ofassociates that provide relatively small numbers of referrals.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of the invention will now bedescribed with reference to the drawings of certain preferredembodiments, which are intended to illustrate and not to limit theinvention, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a high-level architectural drawing illustrating the primarycomponents of a system that operates in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is an architectural drawing and flow diagram illustrating theenrollment function of the system.

FIGS. 3 a-3 c are respective screen displays further illustrating theenrollment function.

FIG. 4 illustrates a URL format used to embed referral links within Webdocuments in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 5 is an architectural drawing and flow diagram illustrating areferral transaction sequence in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a screen display illustrating an HTML catalog document of theassociate's Web site.

FIG. 7 is an HTML listing illustrating a preferred method for embeddinga referral link within a catalog document of an associate's Web site.

FIG. 8 is a screen display illustrating an HTML catalog document detailpage of the merchant Web site.

FIG. 9 is a screen display illustrating a preferred shopping cartprocessing method in accordance with the present invention.

FIGS. 10 a-10 c are screen displays illustrating HTML documents of themerchant Web site.

In the drawings, the first digit of each reference number indicates theFigure number in which the referenced item first appears.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

To facilitate a complete understanding of the invention, the descriptionof the preferred embodiment is arranged within the following sections:

1. GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS

2. OVERVIEW OF SYSTEM COMPONENTS AND OPERATION

3. ASSOCIATE ENROLLMENT FUNCTION

4. REFERRAL TRANSACTION FUNCTION

5. UNIFIED SHOPPING CART FUNCTION

6. REPORT GENERATION FUNCTION

7. CONCLUSION

1 Glossary of Terms and Acronyms

The following terms and acronyms are used throughout the detaileddescription:

Client-Server. A model of interaction in a distributed system in which aprogram at one site sends a request to a program at another site andwaits for a response. The requesting program is called the “client,” andthe program which responds to the request is called the “server.” In thecontext of the World Wide Web (discussed below), the client is a “Webbrowser” (or simply “browser”) which runs on a computer of a user; theprogram which responds to browser requests by serving Web pages iscommonly referred to as a “Web server.”

Hyperlink. A navigational link from one document to another, or from oneportion (or component) of a document to another. Typically, a hyperlinkis displayed as a highlighted word or phrase that can be selected byclicking on it using a mouse to jump to the associated document ordocumented portion.

Hypertext System. A computer-based informational system in whichdocuments (and possibly other types of data entities) are linkedtogether via hyperlinks to form a user-navigable “web.”

Internet. A collection of interconnected (public and/or private)networks that are linked together by a set of standard protocols (suchas TCP/IP and HTTP) to form a global, distributed network. (While thisterm is intended to refer to what is now commonly known as the Internet,it is also intended to encompass variations which may be made in thefuture, including changes and additions to existing standard protocols.)

World Wide Web (“Web”). Used herein to refer generally to both (i) adistributed collection of interlinked, user-viewable hypertext documents(commonly referred to as Web documents or Web pages) that are accessiblevia the Internet, and (ii) the client and server software componentswhich provide user access to such documents using standardized Internetprotocols. Currently, the primary standard protocol for allowingapplications to locate and acquire Web documents is HTTP, and the Webpages are encoded using HTML. However, the terms “Web” and “World WideWeb” are intended to encompass future markup languages and transportprotocols which may be used in place of (or in addition to) HTML andHTTP.

Web Site. A computer system that serves informational content over anetwork using the standard protocols of the World Wide Web. Typically, aWeb site corresponds to a particular Internet domain name, such as“amazon.com,” and includes the content associated with a particularorganization. As used herein, the term is generally intended toencompass both (i) the hardware/software server components that servethe informational content over the network, and (ii) the “back end”hardware/software components, including any non-standard or specializedcomponents, that interact with the server components to perform servicesfor Web site users.

HTML (HyperText Markup Language). A standard coding convention and setof codes for attaching presentation and linking attributes toinformational content within documents. (HTML 2.0 is currently theprimary standard used for generating Web documents.) During a documentauthoring stage, the HTML codes (referred to as “tags”) are embeddedwithin the informational content of the document. When the Web document(or HTML document) is subsequently transferred from a Web server to abrowser, the codes are interpreted by the browser and used to parse anddisplay the document. Additionally in specifying how the Web browser isto display the document, HTML tags can be used to create links to otherWeb documents (commonly referred to as “hyperlinks”). For moreinformation on HTML, see Ian S. Graham, The HTML Source Book, John Wileyand Sons, Inc., 1995 (ISBN 0471-11894-4).

HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol). The standard World Wide Webclient-server protocol used for the exchange of information (such asHTML documents, and client requests for such documents) between abrowser and a Web server. HTTP includes a number of different types ofmessages which can be sent from the client to the server to requestdifferent types of server actions. For example, a “GET” message, whichhas the format GET <URL>, causes the server to return the document orfile located at the specified URL.

ISBN (International Standard Book Number). A numerical identifierassociated with books, pamphlets, educational kits, microforms, CD-ROMand braille publications in circulation throughout the world. The ISBNis a ten-digit number assigned to each published title that provides anunduplicated, internationally recognized “identity.”

URL (Uniform Resource Locator). A unique address which fully specifiesthe location of a file or other resource on the Internet. The generalformat of a URL is protocol://machine address:port/path/filename. Theport specification is optional, and if none is entered by the user, thebrowser defaults to the standard port for whatever service is specifiedas the protocol. For example, if HTTP is specified as the protocol, thebrowser will use the HTTP default port of 80.

Cookies. A technology that enables a Web server to retrieve informationfrom a user's computer that reveals prior browsing activities of theuser. The informational item stored on the user's computer (typically onthe hard drive) is commonly referred to as a “cookie.” Many standard Webbrowsers support the use of cookies.

PUSH Technology. An information dissemination technology used to senddata to users over a network. In contrast to the World Wide Web (a“pull” technology), in which the client browser must request a Web pagebefore it is sent, PUSH protocols send the informational content to theuser computer automatically, typically based on informationpre-specified by the user.

2. Overview of System Components and Operation

FIG. 1 illustrates the general architecture of a referral system thatoperates in accordance with the present invention. The system includes acustomer computer 108, an associate Web site 100, and a merchant Website 106, all of which are linked together by the Internet 104. Thecustomer computer 108 may be any type of computing device that allows auser (“customer”) to interactively browse Web sites via a Web browser112. For example, the customer computer 108 may be a personal computer(PC) that runs the Windows NT operating system.

The merchant Web site 106 is a site that provides various functionalityfor allowing customers to purchase products, including products selectedfrom the Web sites of associates. Typically, this site will be operatedby a business entity (referred to herein as the “merchant”) that handlesthe various order processing, shipping, collections, and customerservice tasks associated with the sale of goods. In an implementationdescribed herein, the merchant Web site 106 is the site of AMAZON.COM.

As described below, the site 106 includes enrollment software thatimplements an online registration process for allowing other entities(individuals, companies, etc.) to register as associates. An entityenrolling as an associate provides the merchant Web site 106 with acompleted, online registration application that is processed by anenrollment software program (“SW”) at the site 106. The enrollmentsoftware creates an entry in the associate database 160 according to theinformation provided by the enrolling associate.

The associate's Web site 100 is the site of an entity that hasregistered with the merchant, via the online registration process, tomarket a subset of the merchant's goods in return for compensation(preferably a performance-based commission). Typically, this site isowned and operated by an individual or business entity (“associate”)that is not in the same business as that of the merchant. For example,in the context of the AMAZON.COM Associates Program, the associate maybe an individual that is in the business of rating mystery novels.

As described below, because the merchant handles the tasks of processingonline orders, shipping products, collecting payment, and providingcustomer service, the associate need not be concerned with these tasks.Thus, the associate can effectively become an online retailerimmediately, by simply enrolling as an associate and setting up a Website.

In addition, because the merchant Web site 106 includes software forautomating the primary functions of doing business with associates (suchas associate enrollment, referral transaction processing, and commissiontracking and payment), the architecture allows the merchant to dobusiness with large numbers (e.g., thousands) of associates with minimalsupervision by the merchant. Further, because the commissions paid tothe associates are performance-based, there is little or no downside tothe merchant to enrolling marginally-productive associates that providerelatively small numbers of referrals.

In operation, the customer accesses the associate's Web site 100 using astandard Web browser 112, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer orNetscape's Navigator, which uses the HTTP protocol to communicate with aWeb server 116 of the associate's site 100. The Web server 116 accessesa local store of catalog documents 120 (in the form of HTML or “Web”documents) which can be requested, retrieved and viewed by the customervia the Web browser 112. These catalog documents 120 include informationgenerated by the associate about the various products featured on theassociate's Web site 100. Preferably, this information includeseditorial descriptions, reviews, and/or recommendations of the productsthat assist customers in making informed purchasing decisions.

The catalog documents 120 served by the associate's site 100 includespecial hyperlinks (to Web pages of the merchant Web site 106) forallowing consumers to select products for prospective purchase.Typically, one such hyperlink is provided for each product displayed onthe associate's Web site 100. Alternatively, a hyperlink may be providedfor a group of products. When a customer selects (e.g., clicks on) thehyperlink associated with a particular product, the customer isautomatically connected to the merchant Web site 106, and presented withvarious options (included within Web pages 136 served from the merchantWeb site 106) for allowing the customer to purchase the selected productfrom the merchant. The hyperlink thus serves as a referral mechanism forreferring the customer to the merchant Web site 106.

As described in detail below, the special hyperlinks (also referred toherein as “referral links”) of the associate's catalog documents areprovided in association with additional information (embedded in apre-defined format within the associated URL) that is transmitted to themerchant Web site 106 in response to selection of the link. In oneimplementation, this information includes a unique identifier of theassociate (assigned upon enrollment) and a unique identifier of theselected product (such as the ISBN of a book). A computer program 144 ofthe merchant Web site 106 uses this information to identify theassociate that was the source of the referral, and to credit the sale(referral) to the associate if the customer subsequently purchases theproduct (or group of products). (In other implementations, the creditingof the associate may occur without regard to whether the product ispurchased.) Commission payments can then be paid to the associates on aperiodic basis (such as once a month). In one implementation, thecommission payments are made electronically, via the computer program144, without the need for involvement by the merchant.

In one implementation, the merchant Web site 106 comprises a productinformation database (not shown) that stores product pricinginformation. The computer program 144 of the merchant site 106 uses thispricing information to calculate the proper commission or referralpayment.

Although the implementation described herein uses monetary commissionsto compensate the associates for referrals, other forms of compensationcan be used. For example, an associate (and/or the associate'scustomers) could be given a discount on products or services sold by themerchant.

In one implementation of the merchant Web site 106, selection of areferral link causes a product detail page 136 to be displayed on thecustomer computer 108. This detail page 136 is served by the merchantWeb site 106, and includes various information provided by the merchant(price, inventory, standard product description, etc.) about theselected product. From this page, a hyperlink can be selected thatallows the selected product to be added to a customer “shopping cart.”

The shopping cart is a customer-specific data structure that isgenerated and maintained (within a shopping cart database 152) byexecutable code of the merchant site 106. The database may be any typeof data repository including, for example, an SQL table or ASCII textfile. The information stored within the shopping cart includes a list ofthe products that have been selected by the customer for prospectivepurchase, together with an identifier of the referring associate (ifany) corresponding to each such product. In one implementation, eachshopping cart persists on the site 106 for an extended period of time(such as one week) following the most recent access by the customer,allowing the customer to conduct extended shopping sessions. When thecustomer proceeds to a check-out area of the merchant site 106 andsubmits an order for the selected products, the associate identifiersstored within the customer's shopping cart are used to appropriatelycredit the accounts of the referring associates. Although the shoppingcart implementation provides an efficient mechanism for tracking andcrediting referral events, referrals can alternatively be creditedwithout the use of a shopping cart, such as by crediting the associateat the time of, or during the same shopping session as, the referral.

Because the identity of the customer is normally unknown to the merchantWeb site 106 at the time of the referral event, the site 106 usescookies technology to identify the customer, so that the customer can beassociated with any existing shopping cart created during previousvisits to the site 106. This process involves retrieving the cookie 140from the customer computer 108 with the Web server 132, and thenexecuting a computer program 144 that compares the cookie againstinformation stored in a customer data structure 148. If no shopping cartexists for the customer, or if no cookie exists on the customer computer108, a shopping cart structure is created for the user. Any of a varietyof alternative techniques can be used to identify the customer,including prompting the customer for a user ID, and/or using URLinformation returned by the customer's Web browser.

Although the embodiment described herein uses Web technology todisseminate the catalog documents, any of a variety of document typesand electronic dissemination technologies can be used. For example, theassociate's catalog documents may be in the form of hypertextual e-mailmessages that are disseminated by a list server, or PUSH documentsdisseminated by a PUSH server. As interactive television,video-on-demand, and Web TV technologies continue to evolve, it iscontemplated that the “catalog documents” will include videoadvertisements that are displayed to the customer on a televisionscreen. Further, although hypertextual catalog documents are preferablyused, it is possible for an associate to use non-hypertextual catalogs(including paper-based product catalogs) that simply instruct thecustomer to manually enter the appropriate URL (including the referralinformation) into a browser program.

In addition, although the system is described in the context of “the”associate's Web site, it should be recognized that a given associate candisseminate its catalog documents (using the single associate IDassigned during online registration) from multiple different sites,including sites that use different document formats and transferprotocols. Further, although the system is described herein in thecontext of a merchant that sells products, it will be recognized thatthe architecture can also be used to sell services, including onlineservices that are provided over the Internet.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the use of theURL-embedded referral information to identify the associate allows theassociate to be identified, and properly credited for the referral, witha high degree of reliability. For example, in contrast to conventionaluser tracking techniques, the present method allows the associate to bereliably identified even if the associate Web site 100 operates behind afirewall. In addition, the method provides a high degree of flexibilityto the associate. For example, the associate can change to a differentInternet service provider, and can use or switch between multiplecatalog dissemination techniques (Web, e-mail, PUSH, etc.), withoutaffecting the ability of the merchant Web site 106 to identify andcredit the associate. Moreover, the associate can freely modify itsproduct offerings—without the need for involvement by the merchant—bysimply updating product descriptions and corresponding referral linkswithin the catalog.

A significant benefit of the architecture is that it allows the task ofmarketing the merchant's products to be efficiently distributed amongentities that have established reputations and exposure within theirrespective fields. In the context of the AMAZON.COM Internet bookstore,for example, a well-established computer company can set up an associatesite (or an area of an existing site) to recommend its favorite books onprogramming languages; and an Italian chef can set up a site torecommend his favorite cookbooks on Italian cooking. In implementationsthat involve sales of other types of products (such as audio/videoequipment), the associates may, for example, include testinglaboratories that publish test results.

Because the associate enrollment and referral tracking functions areautomated (in whole or in part), the referral services provided by theassociates take place with little or no human supervision orintervention by the merchant. In addition, because the payments to theassociates are performance-based (e.g., based on the number of salesresulting from associate referrals), the merchant need not be concernedwith the effectiveness of any given associate site.

The system and method also provide an efficient mechanism for exposingthe merchant and the merchant Web site 106 to the public by encouragingothers (associates) to set up outgoing links to the merchant's Web site.For example, this may be beneficial where the merchant Web site 106 isconfigured to support direct sales (i.e., sales that do not involvereferrals from associates), as is this case with the site of AMAZON.COM.

The various components and functions of the referral system aredescribed in further detail below.

3. Associate Enrollment Function

As indicated above, the merchant Web site 106 includes automatedenrollment software (FIG. 1) for allowing an entity to apply, via theInternet, to operate as an associate. The registration process mayinclude the following: (i) the presentation of an online businessagreement to the applicants, (ii) the use of an automated “agent” toscan the application text for key inputted terms, including vulgaritiesand other terms that may serve as a basis for denying the application,(iii) the automated generation and assignment of a unique associate ID(also referred to herein as the “store ID”) to an applicant, and (iv)the automated electronic transmission of referral link embeddinginstructions to the applicant.

FIG. 2 illustrates the general flow of information between componentswhen an associate applicant uses a computer 200 to enroll as anassociate. The computer 200 includes a conventional Web browser 204which communicates with the merchant Web server 132 using the HTTPprotocol. The Web server 132 accesses a local store 136 of HTMLdocuments (Web pages) which can be requested, retrieved and viewed bythe applicant via the Web browser 204. These documents may, for example,include information about registering online to become an associate.Access to the merchant Web site 106 and the enrollment function isavailable to any client computer 200, and the enrolling associate is notrequired to have an established Web site at the time of enrollment.

As further illustrated in FIG. 2, the enrolling associate begins theenrollment function by selecting the proper hyperlink from the merchantWeb page 136 containing online registration instructions. The merchantWeb server 132 accesses a local store of HTML documents 136 and returnsan online registration application document 208 (also shown in FIGS. 3a-3 c) to the enrolling associate's Web browser 204. The enrollingassociate can then fill out the detailed online application form 208.

Referring to FIGS. 3 a-3 c, a preferred embodiment of the onlineapplication form 208 is shown. The application requests informationabout the enrolling associate, including the Web server to be used forthe associate's Web site, the associate Web site's descriptive name, andthe e-mail address of the enrolling associate. Many alternative formatsto the online application form are possible and FIGS. 3 a-3 c are onlyrepresentative of the types of information that may be requested.

With further reference to FIG. 2, once the electronic application form204 is completed by the enrolling associate, it is sent from theassociate's computer 200 to the merchant Web server 132 for furtherprocessing. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, otherforms of enrollment processing may be used, including but not limited toregular mail and electronic mail. In addition, although the automatedenrollment function is preferably handled by the same computer systemthat handles the referral processing function, these functions could beperformed by dedicated, physically distinct computer systems or sites.

In response to submission of the enrollment form, the merchant Webserver 132 initiates a computer program 144 comprising enrollmentsoftware that processes the information contained on the electronicapplication form 208. In one implementation, an agent is used to scanthe application text for pre-specified terms, and to flag theapplication for further review (such as by a staff member) if such aterm exists. If no such term is found, and the application is complete,the enrollment software automatically accepts the application.

As part of this online registration, once the application has beenprocessed (either automatically or with human intervention), theenrollment software generates a unique store ID to be assigned to theassociate. In addition, the enrollment software creates a database entrycorresponding to the enrolling associate and stores the store ID and theinformation provided by the enrolling associate as a unique entry in anassociate database 160. The database may be any type of data repositoryincluding, for example, an SQL table or ASCII text file. This databaseentry allows the merchant Web site 106 to properly track and creditassociate referrals, as further described below.

Next, the computer program 144 automatically formats and transmits anelectronic mail message to the e-mail address of the approved associate.This electronic mail message provides detailed information about settingup an associate's Web site, including instructions on how to create HTMLdocuments with referral links. These instructions specify a predefinedformat for embedding the store ID and unique product IDs with the HTMLlink structures. In addition, the e-mail message includes the uniquestore ID (generated by the enrollment software), and includesinstructions on obtaining unique product IDs. The associate can obtainthe unique product IDs by browsing the merchant Web site 106.Alternatively, the unique product IDs may be obtained by the associatethrough a specific electronic mail request, or may be provided by themerchant Web site when the initial electronic mail response is sent. Apreferred set of linking instructions that are sent to new associates isincluded as Appendix A.

FIG. 4 illustrates a preferred format of a URL 400 used by an associateto create a referral link to the merchant Web site. This format isrecognized by parsing software (FIG. 1) that runs on the merchant Website. The URL 400 comprises the merchant Web server information 402, theunique product ID 404, the unique store ID 406, and an associatecommission scheme ID 408. The unique store ID 406 represents theinformation created and stored in the associate's database during theassociate enrollment process described above. In the AMAZON.COMimplementation, the unique product ID 404 is the ISBN of a book that isavailable from the AMAZON.COM Web site. The associate commission schemeID is an optional feature that can be used to specify a commissionpercentage or method for calculating the referral commission.

Upon receipt of the special linking instructions, the associate canbegin to build the content (catalog documents) of the associate's Website, including the descriptions of the products to be featured on thesite. An associate can begin to refer customers to the merchant Web site106 at anytime; however, no credit may be given to the associate forreferred customers until the associate has included properly-formattedreferral links within its product catalog. Additionally, referral creditmay be withheld if the merchant has not yet authenticated and qualifiedthe associate Web site for business.

4. Referral Transaction Function

A preferred method for processing referral events will now be describedwith reference to FIGS. 5-7. Referring to FIG. 5, which depicts anexample sequence of events, a customer accesses an associate's Web site100 via the customer computer 108. The customer computer 108 includes aconventional Web browser 112 which communicates with the associate's Webserver 116 using the HTTP protocol. As depicted by events A and B, theWeb server 116 accesses a local store of catalog documents 120 (Webpages) which can be requested, retrieved and viewed by the customer viathe Web browser 112. As described above, these catalog documents 120include information about the various products featured at theassociate's Web site 100. Preferably, this information includeseditorial descriptions, reviews, and recommendations generated by theassociate.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example HTML catalog document (Web page) 120 inaccordance with the present invention. The customer views the productcatalog document 120 via the Web browser 112 in order to select aparticular product (book) offered through the associate's Web site 100.In this example, the catalog document 120 comprises a graphic icon 600that is a scaled-down replica of an actual book cover. The graphic icon600 also functions as a hyperlink, allowing the customer to click on theicon with a mouse in order to link to the merchant Web site 106. Thedocument 120 includes the title 602 and author of the book 604, andincludes an editorial description and recommendation of the book 606from the associate. The catalog document 120 also contains anothertextual hyperlink 608, allowing the customer to link to the merchant Website 106 and initiate referral transaction processing. Typically, theassociate's product catalog (which may include multiple catalog pages)contains several referral links (with different product IDs), eachcorresponding to a different product sold by the merchant.

FIG. 7 is an HTML source code listing which illustrates a preferredformat for including a referral link within an HTML catalog document.The source code of FIG. 7 corresponds to the product catalog document120 illustrated in FIG. 6. In this example, the referral link (includedbetween the HTML anchor tags “A” and “/A”) consists of the URLhttp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0809232022/skinetA/ and thecorresponding textual description “Click here to order Terrain Skiing!.”The URL is identified as such by the standard HREF (hypertext reference)tag. The portion of the URL preceding “skinetA” uniquely identifies aproduct detail page (of the AMAZON.COM site) of a book having an ISBN of0809232022. As described below, the “skinetA” portion of the URLidentifies both the referring associate and a commission scheme. Thereferral link is included within the document such that selection by thecustomer of the text “Click here to order Terrain Skiing!” causes theWeb browser 112 to transmit the URL on the Internet 104 via a standardHTTP message.

Further referring to FIG. 5, upon clicking or otherwise selecting thereferral link 608 of the associate's catalog document 120 (event C), theWeb browser 112 communicates with the merchant Web server 132 (eventsD-F) to access HTML documents 136 of the merchant Web site 106.Initially, the customer is shown a product detail page that providesdetailed information about the selected product, and allows the customerto add the selected product to the shopping cart (described below). TheWeb server 132 also serves Web pages (including dynamically-generatedpages) that display and allow the customer to edit the contents of theshopping cart, and that allow the customer to proceed to a check-outarea to order the selected products.

Once the customer has linked to the merchant Web site 106, the customercan use the navigational controls of the Web browser 112 to return tothe associate's Web site 100. In addition, the detail page and/or theshopping cart page may be provided with a hyperlink to allow thecustomer to return to the associate's Web site 100. Another alternativeis for the associate Web site 100 to be created using an HTML frameformat. The bottom frame can be designated as the target area frame forthe merchant's Web site 106. The top frame can provide navigationalcontrols for the customer to return to the associate's Web site 100after selection of a particular product at the merchant's Web site 106.This allows the customer to maintain an associate's Web page frame whileviewing and processing product purchases at the merchant's Web site 106.

Following the referral event, the customer can browse the merchant Website 106 for additional products, and can add these products to theshopping cart. In one configuration option, the referring associate isgiven commission credit for all additional products thereafter selected(during the current browsing session) from the merchant Web site 106,assuming the customer subsequently purchases these products. In anotherconfiguration option, the associate is only credited for the purchase ofthe product that was the subject of the referral.

The sequence of events that takes place when the customer clicks on thereferral link 608 will now be described in greater detail. Before theproduct detail page 136 is sent to the customer's Web browser 112, themerchant Web server 132 initiates a computer program 144 to conductseveral processing steps. As depicted by event E1 in FIG. 5, thecomputer program 144 executes parsing software (FIG. 1) to parse the URLpassed to the merchant Web server 132. The parsing software extracts theunique product ID (ISBN), the unique store ID associated with aparticular associate, and an optional associate commission ID from theURL data string. For example, if the URL string is

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0809232022/mystoreA/,

the parsing software parses the string to extract the unique product ID(ISBN) of 0809232022, the unique store ID of “mystore,” and thecommission ID of “A.” In one implementation, the software 144 uses thecommission ID to calculate an appropriate commission (e.g. 10% ofmerchant's sales price) to apply to the associate's account. Asdescribed below, if the customer subsequently adds the selected productto the shopping cart, the extracted information is recorded within ashopping cart data structure that corresponds to the customer.

5. Unified Shopping Cart Function

As discussed above, the present invention provides a system formaintaining a unified shopping cart that stores product informationassociated with product referrals from multiple Web sites, and keepstrack of the sources (associates) of such referrals. One benefit of thisfeature is that it enables the customer to perform a single “check out”to purchase products from multiple Web sites. Additionally, this featureallows the merchant Web site 106 to accurately track and credit eachassociate, on a per-product-sale basis, that has referred a customer.For example, if, upon “check-out” from the merchant Web site 106, thecustomer has three books listed in the shopping cart, each of whichresulted from a referral from a different associate Web site, eachassociate will be credited for its respective referral. While theshopping cart feature is particularly useful in the context of thedisclosed referral system, the feature can also be applied to othertypes of Internet shopping systems that support shopping from multipleWeb sites, including systems that use remote “agents” to monitor Websites based on pre-specified selections of the customer.

The data structures and processing steps that implement the shoppingcart will now be described with further reference to FIG. 5. Asindicated above, the shopping cart maintains a customer-specific recordof the products that have been selected by the customer, including theidentities of any associate Web sites that acted as referral sourceswith respect to such products. Preferably, the computer program 144maintains this information in a data structure that is stored on the Website 106 for an extended period of time (such as one week) since thelast access to the shopping cart by the user. This allows the customerto discontinue and later resume a shopping session without loss of theshopping cart data.

Upon customer selection of a referral link, the computer program 144utilizes the customer cookie information 140 passed through an HTTP callto determine whether the particular customer (or technically, thecustomer computer 108) already has an open shopping cart (event E2). Aspart of this process, the computer program 144 executes cookieprocessing software (FIG. 1), which assigns a unique customer ID to thecustomer based on the cookie information 140. If the customer's Webbrowser 112 does not support the use of cookies (or if the cookiesfeature is disabled) the program 144 uses URL information received fromthe Web browser to generate the customer ID.

The customer ID is in turn used by the software 144 to identify anyshopping cart currently associated with the customer. If no shoppingcart exists for the customer, a new shopping cart structure (whichincludes the customer ID) is generated within the shopping cart database152. The customer ID is also stored in a customer database 148. Thealgorithm used by the program 144 to generate the customer IDs is suchthat a cookie retrieved from the same customer computer willconsistently produce the same customer ID. Thus, assuming the customeralways uses the same computer to access the merchant site 106, and thatthe browser 112 supports the use of cookies, the customer will beassigned the same customer ID, and will be associated with any existingshopping cart.

In one implementation, once the customer has been referred to themerchant site 106 and the customer ID has been determined, the merchantsite dynamically includes this ID within hyperlinks of the detail pageand other Web pages that are sent to the customer computer 108. When thecustomer subsequently selects such a link (such as to add a selectedproduct to the shopping cart), the customer ID is automaticallytransmitted to the merchant site 106 as part of the HTTP message. Thisallows the merchant site 106 to identify the customer (and shoppingcart) without the need to re-request the cookie from the customercomputer.

During the process of displaying detail pages and allowing the customerto add products to the shopping cart, neither the merchant site 106 northe associate sites have access to the customer's personal information(name, address, credit card number, etc.). Thus, the systemadvantageously allows the customer to shop anonymously. Only when anorder is actually submitted does the merchant site 106 obtain access tothe customer's information, and at no time is the information providedto the associate sites.

With further reference to FIG. 5, the shopping cart is stored as a tableor data structure within the shopping cart database 152, along withindividual product selections made by customers. If the customer has anexisting shopping cart, the computer program 144 will create anotherproduct selection entry within the shopping cart database 152, asindicated generally by event E3. If the customer does not have anexisting shopping cart, then the computer program will create a newshopping cart data structure within the shopping cart database 152. Theproduct selection entry within the shopping cart database 152 includesthe store ID and product ID. If a product is selected directly from themerchant Web site 106, the corresponding store ID field may be blank orencoded with merchant-specific information. Other information may bestored in the shopping cart to implement the specific businessprocedures of the particular merchant.

When the customer subsequently purchases a product or products containedin the shopping cart, the associate's unique store ID maintained in theassociate data structure 160 is used to appropriately credit theassociate's account. During this process (or at the time of thereferral) the computer program 144 determines whether the store IDrepresents a valid (enrolled) associate in the associates database 160.The processing at the merchant Web site 106 maintaining the associate'sstore ID in the shopping cart allows the system to obtain pricinginformation for a product and associate. In this way, the computerprogram 144 can be configured to generate special discounts or pricingincentives to the customer or associate depending on a particularbusiness relationship.

The shopping cart stored in the shopping cart database 152 is maintainedby the computer program 144 running at the merchant Web site 106 thatmonitors the open entries (non-closed shopping carts) in the shoppingcart database 152. The shopping cart database 152 includes the customerID, the date the shopping cart was opened (open date), and the date lastaccessed (touch date). The shopping cart database is monitored by thecomputer program 144 to purge all shopping carts that have been inactive(untouched) for a pre-defined period of time, such as one week.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of an HTML catalog document (Web page) 136corresponding to the product detail page. After processing a referralURL, the merchant Web server 132 sends the detail page 136 to thecustomer's Web browser 112 to provide the customer with additionalinformation about the selected product. The product detail page includesthe merchant's information (price, standard description, etc.) about theselected product. The product detail page 136 is shown with the URLpassed to the customer Web browser 112 from the merchant Web server.

The URL (shown at the top of FIG. 8) comprises the unique customer ID800 (obtained from the customer's cookie or URL information), theproduct ID 802 (shown as the ISBN of the Terrain Skiing book), the storeID 804 (shown as the “skinet” Web site), and the associate commission ID806 (the letter “A”). Once the customer has reviewed the product detailpage 136, the customer can select the “Add it to your Shopping Cart”hyperlink 808. When the customer clicks on this hyperlink 808, themerchant Web server 132 returns a dynamically-generated HTML documentthat displays the contents of the shopping cart.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example HTML document 136 (Web page) correspondingto the customer shopping cart. The customer shopping cart document 136displays information about the products currently selected by thecustomer for prospective purchase. In this example, the selection item902 is displayed to the customer as the “Terrain Skiing” book previouslyselected. From this page 136, the customer may leave the shopping cartpage, without proceeding to check-out, by either selecting the “continueshopping” link 904 or by using a Web browser navigational control toproceed to a different Web page.

FIG. 10 a represents another associate's Web site where the customer canview products featured with editorial comments. For purposes of thisexample, it may be assumed that the customer proceeded directly to thissite (e.g., by selecting a “favorite places” URL) from the shopping cartpage of FIG. 9. If the customer selects the hyperlink 1000, the merchantWeb server returns the product detail page for the “Cooking with DanielBoulud” book, as illustrated in FIG. 10 b. The customer may then addthis book to the shopping cart by selecting the “Add it to your ShoppingCart” hyperlink 1002, and the customer will then be brought to theshopping cart Web page illustrated in FIG. 10 c. The shopping cart nowhas product selection items corresponding to the two books selected bythe customer during the shopping session, and each of these productselection items is stored in the shopping cart database to uniquelyidentify the respective associate that made the referral. When thecustomer selects the “Proceed to Checkout” hyperlink 1004 on theshopping cart Web page, the merchant Web site returns a form document(not shown) that allows the customer to specify payment information,shipping information, and other information needed to process the order.

As illustrated by the above example, one customer shopping cart can haveline items (corresponding to book selections) from many differentassociate Web sites. In addition, the shopping cart can include lineitems of books that have been selected directly from the merchant. Asdescribed above, because the shopping cart keeps track of each referral,the referring associates can efficiently be credited for theirrespective referrals upon order submission, without the need for thecustomer to perform multiple “check-outs.”

The merchant Web site includes credit generation software forcalculating associate referral credit. Referral credit may be calculatedin any of a number of ways depending on the associate and merchantbusiness relationship, and may be provided to the associate on aperiodic basis, such as at the end of each calendar quarter. Forexample, the associate may be paid a fixed percentage of the listselling price. As indicated above, commission payments may be madeautomatically using an appropriate electronic payment method.

As will be appreciated from the foregoing, the shopping cart feature ofthe system enables the customer to view the entire shopping experienceas a seamless, automated shopping session. The seamless nature of thesession allows the customer to shop for products based on the marketingexpertise of the associates, while conveniently utilizing the merchant'sorder fulfillment resources.

6. Report Generation Function

The merchant Web site also preferably includes report generationsoftware (FIG. 1) that automatically generates and transmits associatefeedback reports to respective associates, based on information storedby the merchant Web site. The software can be configured to generate thereports on a daily, weekly, monthly and/or annual basis. The informationcontained within these reports enables the associates to evaluate theeffectiveness of their Web sites on a per-product basis.

One report produced by the AMAZON.COM site is the “Weekly ActivityReport.” An example of such a report is included as Appendix B. Thisreport provides information about the number of books ordered throughthe associate's referral links, the number of selections (hits) of eachreferral link, and the amount of referral credit earned on orders in thetime period.

Various other types of information can be provided within the feedbackreports to assist the associates in conducting business. For example,the reports can provide anonymous demographic data about the customersthat made purchases from the associate site, including the geographicregions (as determined from shipping addresses) of such customers.Additionally, the reports can provide special notices, including noticesabout books that pay lower referral credit to associates, and anyproblems occurring with an associate's referral links. The reportgeneration feature also may provide associates with the ability toaccess an on-line menu to generate custom feedback reports (such as areport of the number of referrals during a specific period of time), orto set up a report profile that specifies the content, format andfrequency of the automated reports.

7. CONCLUSION

While the invention has been described herein with reference to certainpreferred embodiments, these embodiments have been presented by way ofexample only, and not to limit the scope of the invention. Accordingly,the scope of the invention should be defined only in accordance with theclaims that follow.

In the following claims, reference characters used to designate claimsteps are provided for convenience of description only, and are notintended to imply any particular order for performing the steps.

APPENDIX A

Date: Tue, 24 Jun. 1997 02:11:28-0700 (PDT)

To: mystore@aol.com

Subject: Amazon.com Books: Thank you for your application

Cc: associates@amazon.com

Thanks for submitting your application to participate in the Amazon.comAssociates Program. Your application has been temporarily approved.We'll contact you by e-mail once we have reviewed and approved yourapplication.

*Important*: Be sure to save this email message—you will need some ofthe information here to properly set up your links to Amazon.com.

You can set up your Web site now. You have been assigned a uniqueAssociates ID. You'll use this ID when linking your sponsoring Web siteinto our catalog; detailed instructions are included at the end of thismessage.

Your unique Associates ID is: mystore.

USING THE AMAZON.COM BRAND NAME

As you may already know, Amazon.com has received a great deal of verypositive press coverage since we opened. From The Wall Street Journal,Newsweek and the Associated Press to PC Magazine and WebWeek, mainstreamand industry press alike have helped to make the Amazon.com brand nameone of the more well-known among Internet sites.

Our extensive advertising campaign reaches users of many major Webservices and search tools, and our printed ads are found in places likethe New York Times Review of Books. You should consider using not onlyour name but one of the logos or banners found on our site at:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/assoc-art.html

so that your visitors have the chance to recognize our name as afamiliar and trustworthy Internet retailer working in association withyou.

SUGGESTIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL PRESENTATION:

We've put a page on our Web site filled with suggestions for building agreat online bookstore. These tips are taken from our most successfulAssociates, and we highly recommend reading them. Follow the link on ourhome page to “Build Your Own Bookstore”, and from there link to “Build aGreat Bookstore”. You can also connect directly at this URL:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/assoc-success-tips.html

HOW TO LINK INTO OUR CATALOG:

You can use any sort of book descriptions, review material and graphicsthat you like when describing books on your Web site. All we need is aseparate link into our catalog for each book you wish to recommend. Youmay add or remove these links at any time without our prior approval; aslong as they follow the prescribed format we'll detect themautomatically when they are used.

Each link to our catalog will be the same except for the ISBN of thebook. You'll see the “isbn=” part of the link at the end of each examplebelow. To find the ISBN of the book you wish to list, use our Web siteand search for that book with any of our search tools. The ISBN for eachedition (hardcover, paperback, book on tape) is displayed on the detailpage for that book.

Remember—you may change which books you list whenever you like. Youwon't need our permission and it's not even necessary to advise us ofthe changes—they'll be automatically detected and commissioned properly.

EXAMPLE

For each book you recommend, link it to us like this:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1234567890/mystoreA/

Note: You *must* use a capital A at the end of this link, not alower-case a.

Of course, the ISBN will change for each book. Do not include any spacesor dashes in the ISBN when making these links. Also, make sure to checkour catalog first—we can only sell what's listed there.

VERY IMPORTANT: If you copy the URL of a book page from our Web site andmodify it to fit the format above, be sure to remove the 19-charactershopping cart ID that appears at the end of the bookmarked or copiedURL. Your store code should immediately follow the ISBN as in theexample above. If you leave this in your modified links, they will notwork properly.

The information we have about your Web site is as follows:

Contact e-mail Address:

-   mystore@aol.com

Contact address:

-   John Doe-   1234 East Road-   Anytown-   WA-   12345

Payee e-mail address:

-   mystore@aol.com

Payee address:

-   Doe Enterprises, Inc.-   1234 East Road-   Anytown-   WA-   12345

Description of books you intend to list:

Business Books—How to Business Books

Sponsoring Web site name:

Sponsoring Web site URL:

Your Web site name, in the format we may use on our website:

-   Mystore—Anytown, WA in association with Amazon.com Books

If you have any questions, you can e-mail us at associates@amazon.comand we'll be happy to help.

Once again, thanks for your application.

Sincerely,

Associates staff

Amazon.com Books

http ://www.amazon.com/

2.5 million titles, consistently low prices

APPENDIX B

Amazon.com Associates Program

Weekly Activity Reports

Every week, we e-mail our Associates a detailed activity report so thatthey can track the effectiveness of their efforts. A sample of thereport shows what you can expect to receive weekly:

Sample Weekly Activity Report

Last Week's Sales Results

Note: This report includes a column labeled “ORDERED,” which is theweekly number of copies for which orders have been placed through yourspecial links. Only after these orders are paid for and shipped willthey actually count toward your referral fee. Some of these orders maylater be canceled, customers' credit cards may be declined, andoccasional returns should be expected; in any of these cases, thereferral fee will not be earned.

The column labeled “HITS” represents the number of times one of yourvisitors clicked on a book (this column can help you gauge yourvisitors' interest in the books you are selling).

The column labeled “REFERRAL FEE” represent the referral fees your sitehas earned on orders. Please remember that we pay you based on orders*shipped*, so your actual Referral Fee may be somewhat lower than thefee stated here.

Look for special notices in the titles listed below. They can help youtrack books that may not pay referral fees and identify certain problemswith the link format you may be using

**1** indicates that this item is currently being featured at a discountof more than 30%.

**2** indicates that this item is “special order” or carries no discount

Other notes may indicate problems with a link format or items no longercarried in our catalog.

Quarter-to-Date Books Ordered: 105 Quarter-to-Date Qualified BookRevenue: 4266.46 Quarter-to-Date Referral Fees: 519.04

Click-throughs and sales by individual book for the week of 12-Jan.-97through 18-Jan.- 97 Store ID mystore

ISBN HITS ORDERED YOUR FEE TITLE 0534517072 4 2 1.70 **2** Earth Online:An Internet Guide 2 sold at 0% off list price of 16.95 0672309599 3 00.00 Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 Dba Survival G 0764530038 2 0 0.00 DannyGoodman's JavaScript Handbook 0789704927 355 11 65.99 Building Delphi 2Database Applications 11 sold at 20% off list price of 49.99 07897049432 0 0.00 Using VRML 0789707500 1 0 0.00 Delphi 2 Tutor: The InteractiveSeminar 1568302894 110 6 8.10 **1** Creating Killer Web Sites: The Asold at 40% off the list price of 45.00 477 19 75.79 Totals: Number ofVisitors on 19 Jan. 1997 68 Number of Visitors on 20 Jan. 1997 65 Numberof Visitors on 21 Jan. 1997 54 Number of Visitors on 22 Jan. 1997 59Number of Visitors on 23 Jan. 1997 50 Number of Visitors on 24 Jan. 199747 Number of Visitors on 25 Jan. 1997 32 Total Visitors this week 375NOTE: A “Visitor” is a person who click on book links from your site,and is counted as 1 visitor (above) regardless of the number ofdifferent titles they click on. We keep track of this by watching theirshopping cart ID, which remains the same for every book they click on.

A “Hit” is any person clicking on a book link, and each click is countedas 1 hit. If the same visitor click on 5 different titles, we record 1visitor and 5 hits. Therefore, you should expect the number of visitorsto be lower than the total number of hits.

1. A method of selling an item represented in an electronic catalog ofitems, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:receiving a request message generated in response to selection of anitem-specific link by a referred customer, the request messageidentifying a referral source of the referred customer and an itemrecommended by the referral source; identifying the referral source andthe item using the request message; transacting a sale of the item tothe referred customer; and in response to the sale, determiningcompensation for the referral source.
 2. The method as in claim 1,wherein compensating the referral source for the referral comprisespaying the referral source a purchase price based commission.
 3. Themethod as in claim 1, wherein the request message comprises a URL whichincludes a first code that identifies the referral source and a secondcode that identifies the item.
 4. The method as in claim 3, furthercomprising assigning said first code to the referral source via anautomated enrollment process.
 5. The method of claim 4, furthercomprising, as part of the automated enrollment process, transmittingsaid first code to the referral source together with instructions forgenerating item-specific referral links that include said first code. 6.The method as in claim 1, wherein the request message is generated by acustomer computer, and the method comprises responding to the requestmessage by returning an item detail page for display on said customercomputer, said item detail page corresponding to said item.
 7. Themethod as in claim 1, further comprising generating a feedback reportfor the referral source, said feedback report indicating a number ofcustomer referrals, and a number of purchases, resulting from theitem-specific link.
 8. The method as in claim 1, wherein the method isperformed by a merchant system that hosts said electronic catalog ofitems.
 9. A merchant system programmed and configured to perform themethod of Claim
 1. 10. A computer-implemented method, comprising:detecting selection by a user of a link associated with an item sold bya merchant, wherein the link is provided in conjunction with arecommendation of the item, and/or an editorial description of the item,by a business entity other than the merchant; determining whether theuser completes a transaction with the merchant following the selectionof the link; and in response to completion by the user of thetransaction with the merchant, determining a commission to be paid tothe business entity.
 11. The method as in claim 10, wherein the item isa book title selected by the business entity from an electronic catalogof book titles sold by the merchant.
 12. The method as in claim 10,wherein the business entity is an expert in a field to which the itempertains.
 13. The method as in claim 10, wherein the link is providedwithin an email document transmitted to the user by the business entity.14. The method as in claim 10, wherein determining a commissioncomprises calculating the commission as a percentage of a purchaseamount paid to the merchant by the user.
 15. The method as in claim 10,further comprising generating and transmitting to the business entity areport that includes information about click-through events andpurchases associated with said link.
 16. The method as in claim 15,wherein the report includes information about click-through events andpurchases associated with each of multiple links provided by thebusiness entity.
 17. The method as in claim 10, further comprisingtransmitting to the business entity instructions for creatingitem-specific links to an electronic catalog of the merchant.
 18. Themethod as in claim 17, wherein the instructions are transmitted inresponse to online enrollment by the business entity in a marketingprogram of the merchant.
 19. A merchant web site system configured toperform the method of claim
 10. 20. A method of participating in anassociates program implemented by a merchant system that hosts amerchant web site, the method comprising: enrolling in the associatesprogram via an automated enrollment process, wherein enrolling in theassociates program comprises obtaining an associate identifier;selecting an item represented on an item detail page of the merchant website, said item capable of being purchased via the merchant web site;generating a description of said item, said description being distinctfrom an item description on said item detail page; generating anitem-specific link to the item detail page of the merchant web site,said item-specific link including the associate identifier and anidentifier of said item; and incorporating the item-specific link andthe description of the item into a web page of an associate web sitethat is separate from the merchant web site.
 21. The method of claim 20,wherein generating a description of the item comprises generating aneditorial description of the item.
 22. The method of claim 20, whereingenerating a description of the item comprises generating an editorialdescription of the item.